(As published in the Times of Acadiana ... )
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Jimi Hendrix
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
(MCA/Experience Hendrix)
A generation or two from now, teenagers seeking access to the Hendrix myth won’t care that these four discs worth of rare alternate versions both studio and live aren’t the “official” ones. First, these versions often sound like the official ones. Second, when they don’t, they still sound pretty good. Even the ones that began as low-fi bootlegs have been digitally refurbished to help justify the sixty-dollar price tag. Everything you’d expect is here (“Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Star-Spangled Banner,” “Foxey Lady,” “Voodoo Child [Slight Return],” “Electric Ladyland”) in one incarnation or another, as are songs you might not expect (“Gloria,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club”). In fact, on the evidence contained herein, tomorrow’s teenagers might conclude, not entirely erroneously, that Hendrix was a better interpreter than he was a composer. They might also conclude that Hendrix had a sense of humor: At the beginning of the live “Purple Haze,” he really does say, “’Scuse me while I kiss that guy.” Rating: Four-and-a-half cries of love out of five.
.JPG)
Jimi HendrixThe Jimi Hendrix Experience
(MCA/Experience Hendrix)
A generation or two from now, teenagers seeking access to the Hendrix myth won’t care that these four discs worth of rare alternate versions both studio and live aren’t the “official” ones. First, these versions often sound like the official ones. Second, when they don’t, they still sound pretty good. Even the ones that began as low-fi bootlegs have been digitally refurbished to help justify the sixty-dollar price tag. Everything you’d expect is here (“Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Star-Spangled Banner,” “Foxey Lady,” “Voodoo Child [Slight Return],” “Electric Ladyland”) in one incarnation or another, as are songs you might not expect (“Gloria,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club”). In fact, on the evidence contained herein, tomorrow’s teenagers might conclude, not entirely erroneously, that Hendrix was a better interpreter than he was a composer. They might also conclude that Hendrix had a sense of humor: At the beginning of the live “Purple Haze,” he really does say, “’Scuse me while I kiss that guy.” Rating: Four-and-a-half cries of love out of five.
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